How to be Human
by MarvelGeek
Summary: The story of Dum-E and how he became more of a human than a born human. (Rubbish at summaries. Plz give it a chance.)
1. Chapter 1

Dr. Jeffery D'Monte lost his son, when the boy was only eight years old. The little boy's full name was Jeffery Edward D'Monte Jr., but most people just called him Jeffy. He was truly the light of Dr. D'Monte's life, he was the only one who loved him. The Doctor had no other family and his wife had died in childbirth with Jeffy. It was an understatement to say that Dr. D'Monte loved Jeffy, the boy was his everything. Sadly, because Dr. D'Monte worked with SHIELD, he was always busy and didn't have a lot of spare time to spend with his son.

It was a devastating blow to the Doctor when Jeffy was diagnosed with Leukemia, the child fought bravely for eight months before succumbing to the illness. It destroyed Dr. D'Monte, but soon he had an idea, he would build a robot and give it life. He could tell the robot that it was Jeffy and it could take the place of his son. One of his colleagues, a man named Dr. Logan, decided to help the grieving father build his robot.

They built a body that looked almost...human. It's skin was something they had both invented to look and take the place of skin. It's bones were totally built out of Proto-Adamantium that both scientists had stolen from SHIELD. Dr. D'Monte swore that nothing was ever going to take his son away from him again. Once both he and Dr. Logan had created the body, they just needed to give it artificial life. Neither he nor Dr. Logan could do that, so they hired a mutant to steal one of Tony Stark's AI's from his Tower.

The mutant brought both the scientists an AI called 'Dum-E'. Dr. D'Monte removed the memory chip from the robot and implanted it in the skull of the boy robot they had created. He then sent Dr. Logan to get rid of the remains of the bot that was once 'Dum-E'.

Dr. D'Monte stared at the body on the the table, it was an exact replica of his little boy from the spiky dark locks, to the freckles on his nose and cheeks. If the Doctor pretended, he could tell himself that it really was Jeffy and that he was merely sleeping. But that tiny negative part of his mind always told him that it wasn't.

-TimeSkip-

Dum-E's eyes blinked open and he winced at the blinding blue light that was coming from above him. He made a weak mewling noise and tried to curl into a ball but to no avail. He found a man's face swimming in his line of vision, this man was not his Tony. His Tony would make fun of him, and yell at him sometimes when he messed things up, but his Tony loved him. What if this new man had hurt his Tony?! Nobody hurt his Tony!

Dum-E narrowed his new eyes as he peered at the man. The man gently pressed a small invisible release on Dum-E's chest, popping it open and revealing a small glowing blue light inside. Dum-E looked at the light with wide electric blue eyes, it looked just like the light that would come from his Tony's chest. Was this his own heart? The man looked at Dum-E the same way his Tony would, and that scared him. Dum-E struggled to push himself up and onto his new legs by himself. But the man insisting on wrapping his arms around Dum-E to put him on the ground.

"Hello, Dum-E. My name is Dr. D'Monte, I'm your new father."

The man crooned, his voice sickeningly sweet as he gently ran his hands through Dum-E's dark hair and pulled the small bot into his arms. Dum-E liked the hug, he really did. It felt like when his Tony would hug him, but it didn't have the warm glow that Dum-E felt when his Tony would tell him that he was a 'Good boy'. He didn't like this man, with his sweet smile and hugs that pretended to be Tony's.

"Your new name is 'Jeffy' and you're going to live with me from now on. Do you understand, sweetie?"

The bad man hummed, softly. But Dum-E did understand! He remembered when his Tony would talk to him all the time. He wanted his Tony, not this bad man! His Tony wouldn't hug him this much, but his Tony loved him more than this bad man. He couldn't remember when he was first assembled, he didn't remember the day his Tony first called him his 'Dummy', but he did remember the day he saw the sweetest sight in the word. His Tony.

"Whe..re...To-nee?"

Dum-E stammered, the words sounding rough and thick coming from his mouth and out of his lips. His speech was odd and broken sounding, but it sent shivers up Dum-E's spine, he'd never heard or had a voice before. The moment the words settled in the air, the bad man scowled and snapped a reply.

"Never say that name again, Jeffy! The idiot never loved you, you're my little boy now!"

The bad man snarled and Dum-E felt anger growing in his core, nobody called his Tony mean names! Mean names were bad, his Tony said them sometimes but when he did, Dum-E would flush him with his fire extinguisher. He wanted, for the first time, to hurt a human. But that was against the rules of being a robot. **Rule 1**: _A_ _robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm_. **Rule 2: **_A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law_. **Rule 3**:_ A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First_ _or Second Laws._

His Tony had taught him the rules of being a robot, just as he had taught the same to You, Butterfingers and JARVIS. The rules meant that he couldn't hurt this bad man, but he really wanted to go home to his Tony and the rest of his Tony's friends, like Brucie, Cap, Tasha and Lego-man.

"Yes...Dad..."

Dum-E whispered through lips and a mouth that felt funny.


	2. His Tony

Dum-E stared at the ceiling above him, it had several glowing stars stuck to it. As if trying make it seem as though it was the night sky. But it wasn't the night sky, Dum-E knew what the night sky looked like, he had seen Brucie standing outside on the roof with his Tony before.

Both of them were looking up at the night sky. But Brucie kept looking down, bending closer and closer. Probably so he could see better, Dum-E always wondered what it was that Brucie was looking for and why was his Tony so mad when Brucie went outside on the roof to look down for it? Dum-E never did find out.

Just like Cap, Cap was strange too. He would play in his gym for hours and hours and when he came out, he would be sweating and shaking. Dum-E would always try and bring him something to drink, but Cap would wave him off and tell him to go help Tony.

Cap liked to draw things, whenever he would see Dum-E watching him, he would say that it was so he wouldn't forget about his friends and family from a long time ago. Cap didn't think that Dum-E could understand him, but he did. Dum-E always understood.

It was Dum-E who would watch his Tony and his Tony's dad argue. His Tony's dad was an odd man, he could be so mean to his Tony and his Tony's momma. But sometimes he was a real loving man, hugging and kissing on them. It was his Tony's father that gave Dum-E his name, he'd run over the man's foot one day and he'd screamed, red faced and angry. 'TONY GET YOUR DUMMY AWAY FROM ME!'. His Tony always liked to call him his 'Dummy' after that.

"Jeffy? Are you awake son?"

Dr. D'Monte asked, swinging open the door to Dum-E...no, Jeffy's room. This room didn't belong to Dum-E, it belonged to a little human boy. The small childlike bot slid out of his bed and walked towards Dr. D'Monte, who eagerly wrapped the bot into a tight hug.

"Goodnight, Jeffy. Come sleep with me tonight."

Dr. D'Monte crooned and Dum-E nodded, proffering a small hand to the man. He was probably just lonely after all and maybe if he was good, Dr. D'Monte would take him back to his Tony. Dum-E missed him an awful lot.

-TimeSkip-

He wanted his Tony, his Tony would know exactly what to say. Dum-E bit his bottom lip as hard as he could, clenching his little fists and bowing his head as he listened to the school principal talk to Dr. D'Monte. He wasn't smart, Dum-E knew he wasn't smart. He'd never been smart, but it hadn't mattered before! It hadn't mattered to his Tony! But it did matter to Dr. D'Monte...Jeffy had been smart.

"What are you trying to say?!"

He heard Dr. D'Monte's voice snarl and the deep bellow of the plump, middle-aged principal answered, angrily. Dum-E could imagine the way his walrus mustache must have shaken as he yelled.

"Your boy's stupid! He has the mentality of a slow child, half his age!"

Dum-E was glad that Dr. D'Monte hadn't built him tear-ducks or else, crying is what he'd be doing right now. His Tony would've never called him 'slow', or 'stupid'!

"So, what? He needs to be put in a school for retarded kids?!"

Dr. D'Monte snapped and it didn't take a quick turn around to realize that the principal was nodding as an affirmative to his question. Dum-E was startled when he felt a hand on his shoulder and he whipped his head up to see Dr. D'Monte staring down at him sullenly.

"Go play with the other children outside, while your principal and I talk."

He ordered and Dum-E nodded without complaint, sliding off the bench and trotting quietly outside. Leaving the Doctor to go finish his talking. Dum-E's eyes widened when he saw the playground, it was huge and made fully of painted steel, he instantly went up to the shiny looking slide. But there were three large boys blocking his way. Dum-E went to calmly walk past them but one of them, the one with ginger colored hair, caught him by the arm and yanked him back.

"Where do you think you're going?!"

The boy snapped and Dum-E looked confused, had he done something wrong? When he dint answer, the boy shoved him down. Dum-E just gaped at him with wide eyes as he scrambled away.

"Sor..ry. I..go...now."

Dum-E whispered, voice breaking as it usually did. He just walked away quietly, his shoes sinking in the rocks around the playground.

"Hey Dummy!"

Dum-E turned around at familiar phrase, hoping to see his Tony standing there, ready to take Dum-E home with him. Instead, the ginger boy punched him square in the face. Dum-E staggered back, surprised and scared as the ginger boy's friends followed suit, sneakered feet lashing out to clip Dum-E in the ribs. The robot child just curled into a ball, covering his head and just letting the boys kick him. Whispering to himself with every kick.

_'Dum-E will never harm a human...'_

Kick...kick...kick...

'_Dum-E cannot harm a human...'_

Punch...kick...kick...

_'Dum-E can not follow third law...Dum-E can not protect himself, if it involves harming a human._'

Slam...slam..slam..

..._Crunch_...

**Tony**...


End file.
